Aftermath

"The hollow structure stood as historical proof of the livelihood of its citizens. The pilot's bewildered visage gazed into the endless rows of steel and concrete, my confused stare matching his. 'I wonder what happened here?' he asked. I had already started the scan of the data files found in the excavation site, trying to measure the scope of the disaster: 'The sonar is showing this thing goes down thousands of floors below the sand dunes. Whatever happened here, it raised the ground level by miles.' The pilot stood in silence for a minute; I expected some insight on the mystery. 'Maybe the people at the top needed some palm trees?', he replied. 'I heard coconut oil was kind of a big thing back then.' This made more sense to me than it had any right to. I didn't dare say another word for an hour."